The excitement and fever pitch analysis surrounding the recently released Ivany report on building the provincial economy will take at least another month to subside, so I will leave it alone for now.

In the meantime, our regional, national and international economies keep rolling on. It is useful to try to envisage just what kind of an economic universe the newly imagined Nova Scotia will attempt to fit into.

For those who occasionally read this column, you will be aware of my reference to the late American economist Joseph Schumpeter and his suggestion that it's not change that we should be concerned about, but rather the pace of change.

I believe that means to be careful in any assessment of your investment prospects because today’s target will likely not be tomorrow’s goal.

In the Feb. 8 edition of the weekly news magazine The Economist, there is an article titled “The worldwide wobble" which speaks to the fluidity of economic conditions in the global village of which we are all members.

The big-ticket items of interest to some, if not all, Canadian provinces will include transportation, immigration, trade policy, exports, research, energy, tourism and more — all of which will be examined through the lens of climate change. We are frequently lectured on the need to increase exports as one key way to improve our economy. True enough.

National governments are busy signing free trade and trade liberalization agreements. Perhaps the best known is the North American Free Trade Agreement, now in place for more than 20 years. Also, the Canadian government has completed trade agreements with several smaller Caribbean countries and is seeking some preferred trading status with East Asian countries.

Perhaps the best-known current initiative is the draft Canada-European Union trade agreement.

All of these pacts are designed to facilitate more sales of our products internationally. In theory, not only are those agreements designed to reduce trade barriers, but to force Canadians to be more innovative, productive and cost-efficient.

Canada’s trade balance over the past couple of years has been disappointing.

The value of the Canadian dollar might be one factor. However, with few exceptions, local and regional businesses have not been very aggressive in export trade.

Immigration has become a major international issue affecting economic growth. Perhaps the most devastating example is the displacement of people from Northern Africa and their migration to Europe. Continental Europe has not yet figured out how to care for, employ and integrate these migrants into its respective societies.

There was a time in Canada when such people were called "displaced persons" or "DPs."

The imbalance in immigrant population escapes apparent solution. Countries such as France, Switzerland and Germany are unable to deal with the influx.

In the United States, some politicians want to expel many Mexican migrants, while many U.S. firms and the American agriculture sector rely on that labour pool.

In Canada, we need immigrants to populate the North and reverse Atlantic Canada's declining population.

Those interested in the earlier immigration experience locally may wish to read "Rise Again! The Story of Cape Breton Island; Book Two: From 1900 to Today" by the late Cape Breton University history professor Robert J. Morgan.

Energy, research and climate change are the tripods of multiple issues which have to be understood, not only within their own interconnectedness, but also within the policy and regulatory framework of the respective governments.

The next 24 months will see a number of events which can change some of the economic sectors which impact our regional growth. A federal election, upcoming elections in Quebec, Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador, and the lead-up to the next U.S. presidential race will all be of concern.

We will need the best intelligence-gathering analysis and motivational skill we can muster.

Pat Bates of Sydney worked for 17 years for the Irving group of companies in the Maritimes, and 20 years with various federal economic development agencies, including five years as vice-president of Enterprise Cape Breton Corp. These days, his work is largely with charitable and non-profit community initiatives.

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Humpty Dance

February 24, 2014 - 19:55

The "economic universe of Nova Scotia" is Halifax centric, bleeding rural Nova Scotia to the breaking point. Due to a "grow HRM, forget the rest" philosophy the rural NS experience consists of near ghost towns and hobbled municipalities. The only sensible way forward in the coming 25-50 years will be a maritime union PEI/NS/NB to split costs and take advantage of group, bulk buying. The three provinces are small, broke and fighting for the same lines of business. Alberta/Ottawa doesn't give a rats buns about the maritimes, calling us welfare bums. I will be deceased in 25 years so it won't be my problem.

interesting article but the views they have are outdated by trying to create short term jobs and by bringing immigrants into an area where people are moving away because of no jobs is only going to make matters worse by higher unemployment with more people fighting for the few jobs and would overload the fragile healthcare system here with the lack of doctors